Girl Power Anthems Continue to Dominate Billboard Hot 100

Pop female artists are definitely on a roll right now. For a record-breaking fifth week in a row, women are dominating all of the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with Meghan Trainor in the lead.

Trainor’s “All About That Bass” has once again nabbed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the fourth consecutive week that the song has topped the charts. According to Billboard, the singer’s catchy single continues to rule the chart, thanks its top position on the Digital Songs chart, as well as the Streaming Songs and Radio Songs charts.

Keeping her company at the top of the chart? Taylor Swift, whose latest single “Shake it Off” was dethroned by Trainor’s “All About That Bass” and now remains at No. 2 for the fifth straight week. Iggy Azalea’s also up there, with “Black Widow” moving up one spot to its highest rank yet, No. 3. Ariana Grande, Nikki Minaj, and Jessie J follow with their collaboration “Bang Bang” rebounding back up to No. 4 after holding the fifth spot last week. Minaj also rounds out the top five with her solo single, “Anaconda.”

All of the artists mentioned have been reigning over the Hot 100 for multiple weeks now, albeit in slightly different positions. But this week’s all-female top five is particularly significant, as it breaks the record for the longest period in the chart’s 56-year history that women have kept male artists out of those coveted spots. While five female-led weeks may not seem like too long, it’s important to consider this: per Billboard, this week is also only the 11th ever in which solo female artists have dominated the top half of the charts.

So what exactly has caused this noteworthy shift? It’s at least partly a sign of the changing times, in which female artists — particularly young ones, like Trainor, Grande, and Swift — are reaching new levels of recognition, both outselling and outranking some of their male counterparts. It also seems to be a response to the type of material that these artists are putting out there. Trainor’s “All About that Bass” and Minaj’s “Anaconda” were both pegged as female body-positive songs by the artists (and at least part of the public) in their debut. Meanwhile, Swift’s “Shake it Off,” though not female-specific, is also meant as an empowerment anthem of sorts.

Women continue to make a name for themselves below the top five as well. Tove Lo’s debut single “Habits (Stay High)” climbed up one spot, to rest at No. 6. The ascent is due to a 31 percent rise in radio play. This makes it only the second week in the chart’s history that guys have been completely absent from the top six.

Jeremih is the first male entry onto the chart, moving up two spots to No. 7 with his song, “Don’t Tell ‘Em.” Maroon 5 earns their tenth top 10 hit, with “Animals” sitting at No. 8 this week. The song rocketed up from No. 33 after the release of the controversial music video, in which the band’s frontman Adam Levine seemingly stalks his real-life wife, model Behati Prinsloo. Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” drops to No. 9, and Grande reappears to round out the top 10 with “Break Free,” featuring Zedd.